Friday, April 27, 2012

EINSATZ FUER DEN TATORT VORSPANN
I am exhausted! The Camp/Anti-Camp and Rising Stars, Falling Stars: We Must Have Music re-launch has knackered me out like something otherworldly. I don’t know where to begin in writing about the last week or so. Berlin has been an utter whirlwind of activity.
Well my screening of George Gershwin’s Porgy & Bess starring Dorothy Dandridge, Sidney Portier, Pearl Bailey, Diahann Carroll and Sammy Davis Jr. was a huge hit and the perfect way to jumpstart the RSFS series with a new spark. I even liked how the print was turning a reddish pink. It made this Hollywood Golden era film take on a decidedly more experimental aura.
Re-vamping RSFS would have been impossible without the tireless efforts of Arsenal Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus, Daniel Hendrickson, the Jewish Muslim with help from Markus Ruff of Living Archive Project and of course Jeffreyland Hilbert of Kustom Kreative the genius of design wizardry who created the postcard fliers and posters that has everyones mouths agape. Jeffrey is a genius. After the screening Warhol Superstar Holly Woodlawn dropped by as a special guest star during the wine reception held in Kino II. Of course it is always a joy being in the presense of such an astounding talent, but I felt her companion Nico should have let the great lady rest a bit in preparation for her long plane trip to Los Angeles. Her fans were of course excited to catch one more glimpse of her divinity. On hand were Blue Bros kJohnny & Tim who is leaving Berlin permanently in a few weeks and returning to Portland, Oregon, delicious Toby Rauscher & French hotsy totsy Xavier who were so wonderful as my living sculpture boys in my talk show/installation VD is SFTD, they were joined by Little Alex of Macedonia, art video maven Nguyen Tan Hoang, Jonathan Berger and his cute NYU student Joy, Senol Senturk, Mikki the sprightly C/A-C stage manager, gorgeous Nazli Kilerci, Romy Haag, with singer Billie Ray Martin, Piero Bellomo, New Zealand scholar Pete Limbrick, Kyle Keyser, Susanne Sachsse & Marc Siegel, curator Hannah Keller, Verena von Hodel, Lars Denicke, video artist Bjorn Melhus, Salome Gersch and handsome Uli Ziemons.
Everyone was talking about how faggoty Sammy Davis Jr. was in the film Porgy & Bess playing Sportin’ Life. Well Sammy is a well known womanizer but he also had some sugar in his proverbial tank and that is a fact many don´t know about the Rat Packer who also packed quite a penile punch in his tiny frame. Funny lady Pearl Bailey was a hoot playing Cat Fish Row wiseacre a Mariah. Of course the beauty of Dorothy Dandridge couldn’t be denied, and she somehow conveyed a modern edge to her low key performance. Sidney Portier has such a masculine voice and ardour and Diahann Carroll made to look plain and ordinary also packed quite a wallup.
The Last night of Camp/Anti-Camp was a marvel with the concert performance by the music and art kollektive The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black starring the amazing Kembra Pfahler who had the audience revitted. It was so wonderous hearing the Karen Black hit songs again. I haven’t seen the band play in almost a decade. The extra Karen Black treat was guitar god Samoa returning to the lineup. No one short of Glen Meadmore plays guitar like Samoa. He defines the Karen Black sound and seeing Kembra & Samoa together was my ultimate fantasy come true. The Lady Kembra is a consummate artist and one of the planets smartest and most gifted women. Every move she makes is perfection personified, and Berlin was able to experience a rare treat.
I was also happy to see Tenderloin perform and Dagmar Hofpfisterei the teenage lead singer was in good form despite having almost OD’d just a few hours before the gig. The crowd seemed to really enjoy their music and songs like Empty, Eat Me Like The Good Book Sez, Salome’s Last Dance which takes text directly from Oscar Wilde, Cheeseburger, No Soul, Octavia and Incitement to Discourse. I especially loved the animated text behind the band that was created by Jean Y. Kim who also did the video for SFTD. Joel Gibb of the Hidden Cameras is quite a good drummer and he also managed to play keyboards and guitar at the same time, plus Felix Knoke and Landgraf Jan Klesse are very attractive on stage and had lots of the girls going wild over their manly appeal. Tenderloin’s next gig with VHoKB is August 10th in London England during the Olympics when Antony of Antony & the Johnsons curates The Meltdown Festival.
The last day of C/A-C featured celebrity sightings as diverse as Peaches and The Pet Shops Boys, Wolfgang Tilmans, Katy Perry, and Jens Friebe the German indie pop singer/songwriter. The last SFTD was a speed talk show/installation that was over in 27 minutes and featured as guests a playful Tim Studkin masquerading as a former Bel Ami porn model turned scholar and activist, Swedish poet Eli Lev’en and good time Charlie of a writer/journalista Travis Jeppesen who has very pretty bare feet that the Vagimule managed to shrimp as the packed audience squeeled uncomfortably. The Love Camel aka: Andrea Novarin of the BFI didn’t offend anyone with his video selection of Turkish film remakes of Hollywood Blockbusters like Star Wars and the Exorcist. Co-hostess Nanna Heidenreich was sublime.
It seems like everyone’s favorite SFTD evening was the Friday salute to Jayne County that featured Arsenal Empress Stefanie Schulte Strathaus and her dynamic 16mm film presentation. This evening also had everyone talking about the kickboxing demo by Richard Gersch and Georg that was so earnest and sexy in a quiet way and of course the nude rapping by New York sensation Gio Black Peter that featured just a bit of analingus and felatio, not to mention a mock Court of Good Taste by Langraf Jan Klesse with an inspired Liz Rosenfeld of Foodgasm. Kembra Pfahler and Wieland Speck (accepting a CHEAPY Underground Über Alles Award for Jayne County were other highlights of Friday, and everyone was admiring the beautiful set that was designed by Jonathan Berger and Senol Senturk that featured a fetching wall of cacti. Catching every moment of the three day festival: Peter Limbrick, New Zealand film scholar who lives in San Francisco,Pet Shop Bears Disco Club proprietors,Mobile Academy’s Hannah Hurtzig,Sophia of Plan b,Katja Sander and artist Phil Colllins with their gaggle of art students in tow. Plus the lovesexy Angela Melitopoulos,Jan Kunemund of Sissy Magazine,Piero Bellomo,Sabeth Buchmann the wonderful art theorist who teaches in Wien,Dragan Asler and the Serbian Art Mafia, the Great Alessio who did a splendid make-up job on Teodora Tabacki making her look all Serbi-camp, Koen Clarehout,Maeke Harmsen, Katrin Dod the Beauty of HAU, Steffan Faupel and his music writing partner, Art shtar Ming Wong, scholars: Anja Michaelson and Kimiko Suda, supermodel Akira Knightly with make up artist Tan Binh Nguyen who not only beats the face of curator Susanne Sachsse, but Vaginal Davis and Holly Woodlawn, DJane Olga Damnitz, Angie Anderson,Christina the hot Romy Schneider looking girlfriend of sexy Sasha, dancer Asaf Hochman,Earl Dax of Pussy Faggot, Juan Luis Mielgo Castellanos, the sexy Spanish teacher, academic Todd Sekuler and Hanno Stecher of Catchfire blog.